USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 20
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Isaac Keyes, who was the oldest of the children of Thomas Keyes, was born on the farm occupied by his parents near Circleville, Ohio. When he was about ten years of age he was brought to Miami county, and his education began in the pioneer schools of Ohio, where he con- tinued as far as the primitive education of this locality would allow. As a boy some of his early experiences were in helping to clear, grub, plant and harvest the acres which had been hard won from the wilder- ness, by himself, and his father and brothers. Throughout his own career he occupied his time in agriculture. He married Julia Fansler, who became the mother of five sons and two daughters, all of whom are now living except one son, William, who died in infancy. The life of Isaac Keyes had in it that even quality and absence from abnormal eventfulness which are the best manifestations of a happy and useful career. He was noted for his untiring industry, and by his efforts he acquired a quarter section of valuable land and other property, so that his own life was well fortified with material prosperity and he pro- vided well for his family. The characteristic most remembered was his intense devotion to his home and his happiest hours were spent in the companionship of his wife and children. In politics he was a. Repub- lican, but while always giving firm adherence to his political convic- tions he was never a partisan, and allowed others the same right he reserved for himself of thinking and acting according to the dictates of
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conscience. For many years he was actively identified with the Meth- odist church in his community, the services of this church being held at the Keyes schoolhouse in Butler township. Commanding the esteem and affection of a large circle of friends, he passed away in September, 1885, and his wife's death had occurred some time before.
Thomas A. Keyes, who is now prominent in the business and indus- trial circles of Peru, was born in Butler township this county, October 27, 1862. His primary education was attained in the district schools in the old Keyes school house which stood near his home. Subsequently he supplemented this early instruction by private study under tutors, so that he had finally procured the equivalent of a sophomoric university education. When he was nineteen years of age he began teaching school, and continued this occupation for eight winter terms, spending the in- tervening summer months at farming. At the end of this time he had acquired sufficient resources for the purpose of a forty-acre farm in his native township, and thus established an independent home of his own. After three years as a farmer, he engaged in mercantile business at Amboy, in partnership with W. P. Miller. After that enterprise he came to Peru, and took a place as clerk with the Peru Basket Company. Four years later, he was advanced to the place of superintendent, and since 1909 has been part owner and general manager of this important establishment.
Mr. Keyes is in politics a Republican, and is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons. On May 22, 1885, he married Miss Ida B. John- son, a daughter of James L. and Mary A. (Way) Johnson. Of the three children of their marriage, the first two died in infancy, and the only survivor is Earl Everett. The son is now pursuing a post-graduate course in the University of Indiana at Bloomington, where he is also instructor of public speaking. He is a very talented young man, and spent one year of his collegiate life at Harvard University. Mr. and Mrs. Keyes are both members of the Presbyterian church of Peru.
DAVID RIDENOUR, M. D. From 1868 until his death in 1900, a res- ident and a physician at Chili in Miami county, the life of the late Dr. David Ridenour was a benefit and an inspiration to the people of his community, and the memory of his services deserve lasting recognition in the annals of this county. His work among the people of the com- munity in which he had been a familiar figure for so long was of an order imminently calculated to win him the respect and love of all, and in those qualities his life was richly endowed.
Dr. David Ridenour was born in Franklin county, Ohio, March 7, 1831, a son of George and Mary Ridenour. As a young man he entered Capital University from which he graduated with honors with a view to preparing himself for the ministry of the Lutheran church. But he soon found that his inclinations lay in the direction of medicine, and he accordingly attended the Starling Medical College, from which he also graduated. He practiced for a time at Aetna in Licking county, Ohio. In 1856 moving to Payson, Illinois, he there met and married Miss Susan Fisher. Mrs. Ridenour died in the fall of 1857, leaving one daughter, Emma. Dr. Ridenour returned to his native village in Ohio, and re- entered the Starling Medical College, where he was graduated M. D. in 1858. In the meantime, however, during the Civil war period he had enlisted for the preservation of the Union in Company F of the One Hundred and Thirty-Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was com- missioned second assistant surgeon of the regiment, serving as such until peace was declared.
On May 15, 1861, he married Abigal Y. Kitsmiller, and then con-
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tinued his practice in Ohio until 1868, at which date he moved to In- wood, Indiana, but in July of the same year to Chili in Miami county, where he continued in the active practice of his profession until his death.
The late Dr. Ridenour was a man of decided opinions and strong force of character. He joined the fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, contrary to the tenets of the religion of his parents, and was ever afterwards a strong advocate of the doctrines of that organization. He was a charter member of the lodge at Chili. He was held in high esteem by the members of his profession, and his memory is undimmed in the affections of those with whom he came in contact either as a friend or as a physician. At the time of his death he was a member of the Methodist church. To his second marriage three children were born, namely : William L., David C., and Daisy L., the last being the wife of Benjamin F. Williams. The oldest child, William L., died in 1885.
DR. DAVID C. RIDENOUR, the only surviving son of the late Dr. David Ridenour, was born at Chili in Richland township August 25, 1868. After attendance and graduation at the graded schools of Chili, when nineteen years of age he began his career as a teacher, an occupation which he followed until 1890. During the last two years of this time, however, he had been reading medicine under the direction of his father. Then in September, 1890, he entered the Starling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio. During the succeeding vacation period, he again studied and accompanied his father on his rounds, and on March 3, 1892, was gradu- ated with his medical degree from the Starling Medical College, and under Prof. Starling Loving, who was the professor of his father in 1858. Dr. Ridenour practiced then in association with his father at Chili until December, 1893, at which date he was appointed resident surgeon at the Wabash Railway Hospital in Peru. His practice in that connection continued with several interruptions for a year and a half, and he then located at Columbus, Ohio, but finally through the persuasion of his family, he returned to Miami county and established his office at Peru in October, 1896. He has since enjoyed a distinctive place in the med- ical fraternity of this city and of the county.
In connection with his profession Dr. Ridenour has given much public spirited service. In 1897-1900 he served as secretary of the board of health of Peru. He has also served as a clerk to the board of pension examiners, since 1906. In 1904 he was elected to the office of coroner of Miami county, and has the distinction of being the only Re- publican ever elected to that office. He has held membership in the County Medical Society and other professional bodies. He was made a Master Mason in 1897, and was one of the organizers of the old social order known as the Sexennial League. He and his wife attend the Methodist church. On October 18, 1899, Dr. Ridenour married Beatrice V., a daughter of John B. Sollitt, one of the oldest and best known families of Peru. They are the parents of one daughter, Elizabeth Abigal, born February 29, 1904.
MICHAEL P. COSTIN. A solid business enterprise of Peru is the Peru Teaming Company, which has an interesting history of its own, and which illustrates the progressive and hard working career of one of the leading citizens. Something more than twenty years ago Mr. Costin came to this city a man without influence, without capital, and estab- lished a draying business on a very small scale. It was from that small beginning that, entirely through his own persistent industries, has been built up the present prosperous and extensive establishment comprised under the name of the Peru Teaming Company.
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Pugsley PHOTO
"POINT VIEW STOCK FARM" RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. CHARLES J. WARD
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Michael P. Costin was born at Willow Springs in Cook County, Illinois, on April 25, 1862. The oldest of the family, and bearing his father's name, he was a member of a household comprising eight chil- dren, five of whom are now living. Their parents were Michael P. and Mary (Mallon) Costin, both of whom were natives of Ireland. The father was born in County Waterford and the mother in County Tyrone. The destinies of life caused them both to leave Ireland and locate in Cook County, Illinois, where they became acquainted and their marriage followed, being celebrated in Lockport, Illinois. The father was a farmer, and both parents are now deceased.
As a boy Michael P. Costin attended the district schools as oppor- tunity offered and his total attendance was for only a year or so. As soon as old enough he began working to contribute for his own and the family welfare, and when fifteen years of age left home and began employment with an ice company. Subsequently he became a driver in the employ of the Arthur Dixon Teaming Company, and for General Joseph Stockton in Chicago. About 1889, he bought a couple of outfits and began teaming for a furniture company. After eighteen months in this he sold his equipment and once more entered the employ of the Dixon Company as a driver.
Mr. Costin's wife had relatives in Peru and it was this influence which brought him to this city in November, 1892. For a few months he was clerk in the Betzner Grocery Store, and then for a time drove a delivery wagon for Hugh McCaffrey. In July, 1893, he bought a team and a dray and started out on independent venture. For many months his fight for success was a hard one. He was a comparative stranger in Peru and also had considerable competition to overcome. Further- more he had very little capital at his disposal and among other troubles which beset the beginning of his enterprise was the financial panic, which almost stifled business during the early nineties. It is probable that his subsequent success rested largely upon his willingnes to under- take any job no matter how dirty or difficult, and it was his motto in those days to do whatever came to him according to the best of his ability. In this way he gradually built up a steady and reliable patron- age and many years ago was on the road to solid prosperity. In September, 1900, he moved his headquarters to his present place of business on Broadway and in January, 1903, John Tomey became a partner by the purchase of a half interest in the firm. At this time the establishment took the name of the Peru Teaming Company, and that business has been regarded as one of the flourishing concerns of the city ever since. Mr. Costin in January, 1913, extended his enter- prise when he became a partner in the new undertaking firm of Craw- ford, Costin & Company, this organization succeeding the old Crawford, Drake & Hunt Company.
Mr. Costin is in politics a Democrat, and he and his family are com- municants of the Catholic church. On October 17, 1888, he married Miss Sadie Mackey. The ten children who have blessed their union are named as follows: Margaret, deceased; Cecelia; James; Genevieve ; Gerald, deceased; Richard; Joseph; Dorothy; Maurice and Roslyn.
CHARLES J. WARD. For a period upwards of half a century, Mr. Ward has been closely identified with those activities which constitute the business and civic life of a community, and which in the aggregate has made Miami county one of the most progressive counties in the state. Mr. Ward is at the present time one of the county commissioners, and his election to that office is a tribute to the substantial character of his citizenship, and the place which he has so long held in the esteem of
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his community. Mr. Ward is a native son of Richland township, and has been identified with the farming interests of that locality, through- out the greater part of his life.
C. J. Ward was born northwest of the village of Chili in Richland township, May 30, 1848, a son of William and a grandson of Daniel Ward. His mother was Grace Ann Hill, a daughter of Willis Hill. Grandfather Daniel Ward was one of the pioneers of Miami county, having located here about 1836, upon a tract of land in the wilderness northwest of the present town of Chili. In the list of original land entries in Miami county, as contained on file in the state offices will be found the name of Daniel Ward as an entrant, and he went to the land office at Logansport to file his claim. Daniel Ward was a native of Maryland, after growing up, having moved west and located first in Wayne county, Indiana, where his son, William was born. When the Ward family came to Miami county, hardly half a dozen years had passed since the first settlement and organization of a county, and the entire country was a wilderness. The Canal had not yet been built in the Wabash Valley, and all traffic was overland. Daniel Ward was one of the men who sturdily wielded his ax in the clearing of the forest, and he built one of the log cabins which have so often been described as typical of pioneer existence. He remained in this county until he was sixty-five years of age, then going to Wabash county and buying a farm. He spent his declining years with his son John in Wabash, Indiana, and was interred at Laketon, Indiana.
William Ward the father was a young man when he came to Miami county, and started his independent career on a rented farm. After- wards he bought eighty acres of the timberland, and built a log cabin and barn, cleared away a portion of the heavy woods, and in a few years had constituted himself and family a good homestead. He was one of the old-timers of Miami county, who were faithful attendants of church, believed in doing what was right by himself and his neigh- bors, and worthily bore the responsibilities of private and public nature. He and his wife were members of the Christian church.
Mr. J. C. Ward, after the death of his father, enlarged the old home place, and continued to live there for one year after his marriage. Then in 1874 he built the home which he now occupies. When he started out for himself he had twenty acres of land, and with that as a nucleus has built up a fine property, so that he is now accorded recognition as one of the most substantial men in Richland township. He possesses three farms aggregating one hundred and eighty-one acres. Mr. Ward is not a member of any church, though his wife is a Baptist. He be- lieves in the practice of the Golden Rule, and by his strict integrity has made a great many friends. He is influential in local affairs, and was the organizer of the horse thief association in his locality, of which association he has been a member for forty years. In 1909 he was elected to the office of county commissioner, taking office in 1910, and has been a member of the board down to the present time.
In 1873 Mr. Ward married Miss Sarah Hersey, a daughter of Abner Hersey. The five children of their marriage were: Emma J., wife of Charles Black; Grace A., wife of Peter Pottinger; Truman H., married Edna Kelsey ; Homer W., married June Murphy ; and Miss Ruth. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Ward married Laura Miller, a daughter of Rev. Samuel Miller. For his third wife Mr. Ward married Emma Cunningham, daughter of William Cunningham, and Eliza (Williams) Cunningham. To the third marriage has been born one child, Ralph W. Ward. The estate of Mr. and Mrs. Ward is known as "Point View Stock Farm."
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MOSES PUTERBAUGH AND ELI PUTERBAUGH. It is now more than three- score and ten years since the Puterbaugh family was established in the valley of the Wabash. The head of the preceding generation was a pioneer, a man whose industry was a contributing factor in the clearing of the wilderness, and making of prosperous homes in this vicinity. Of the second generation the two brothers named above have for more than forty years been identified with the mercantile activities of Peru, and among the honored old-time merchants and citizens of this city.
Moses Puterbaugh, the elder of these brothers, was born on a farm seven miles west of Peru, in Cass county, August 24, 1843. His father was Samuel Puterbaugh, a native of Miami county, Ohio, where he was reared and where he married Elizabeth Branson. He and his wife coming overland in 1840, located upon land which he entered from the government in Tipton township of Cass county, his homestead border- ing upon the Miami county lines. It was there that he made his home and followed farming for the most part during the remainder of his days. This founder of the Puterbaugh family was a man of medium height and weight, was a thrifty, hard-working and economical citizen, belonged to the German Baptist faith, and was a Republican in politics, after the founding of that political party. Throughout the community in which he spent so many years his chief characteristic was that of sterling honesty and a quiet unassuming nature which brought him friends and esteem though he never had any desire to take conspicuous part in civic or social affairs. He and his wife became the parents of thirteen children, seven of whom are now living. Samuel Puterbaugh died in 1872, and his wife had passed away many years before in 1868.
Moses Puterbaugh, who was born on the Cass county homestead three years after his father had settled there, spent his boyhood days there and had arrived at sufficient age to assist in a part of the clearing and other work involved in the development of the land. While he attended the neighboring district log school house as occasion offered, he spent much of his time in his youth in the planting and harvesting and other labors incidental to early farming in Miami and Cass counties. He finished his education in the schools of Kokomo, Peru and Logans- port, and finally took a course at Greer's Business College in Dayton, Ohio. His regular position in life was that of teacher, and he taught several terms of school in Cass, Miami and Pulaski counties. At differ- ent times he also conducted private classes in penmanship.
The date of his arrival in Peru to become an active factor in local business circles was in April, 1870, at which time he became associated with James M. Stutesman and his brother Eli Puterbaugh in the hard- ware business. Through ten years this association continued and then was succeeded by the firm of Puterbaugh Brothers, who continued the business until 1903, when it was sold to Betzner Brothers. In the mean- time Mr. Puterbaugh had acquired a generous prosperity and had many investments in this locality, which has since occupied his time and attention. Mr. Puterbaugh is a Republican in politics, is a member of the Presbyterian church, and on August 16, 1875, married Miss Caroline Crowell of Peru.
Mr. Eli Puterbaugh, brother of Moses, was born in Cass county, In- diana, February 14, 1845, being two years his brother's junior. He has always been associated with his brother in business, and their careers. have been as nearly identical as possible. He attained his education in the same schools, and after leaving school also taught penmanship and regular school. He came, as already noted, to Peru in 1870, and engaged in the hardware business and retired at the same date in order to look after his other interests. Mr. Puterbaugh married Isabel Nicol and
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has one daughter. Mrs. Puterbaugh was born in Illinois, Rock Island county, was educated in common and high schools, and at the age of sixteen years began teaching school. In 1865 she came to Peru to attend the high schools and later taught one term in district schools. She next taught one year in Logansport, and then came to Peru where she taught in the public and high schools for 18 years.
ANNA MARY ELIZABETH BETSNER. The biographical annals of Miami county contain the careers of many successful men in business and public affairs. In most cases it is distinctly stated or implied that these suc- cessful business men have been greatly influenced and helped on their road to success by their mothers or wives. It will be of interest at this point to touch more particulary upon the career of one woman. who is deserving of more than passing mention in the history of commercial successes of Peru and the county. With this brief introduction a large number of Peru residents would recognize that reference was being made to Mrs. Anna Mary Elizabeth Betsner, who for forty-six years has been a resident of this city. Born April 21, 1841, at Glandorf, Province of Hanover, Germany, she is a daughter of Bernard and Elizabeth (Englemeyer) Hamer, both of whom died in that country. She was reared to womanhood in the land of her nativity, and having a brother living in this country at Cincinnati, Ohio, she came to America in May 1866, and with her brother's family, shortly after her arrival, moved to Dayton, Ohio, where she found employment in the family of William Kransman. In September, 1866, she came with the Krans- man family to Peru, and here on January 27, 1867, she married Jacob Betsner, who was at the time a widower with two children.
Mr. Betsner was born May 6, 1834, at Loerst, Province of Darmstadt, Germany, and came with his mother to the United States about the same year of his birth, locating on a farm on Washington township, Miami county. His mother here married a Mr. Beck. When a young man Mr. Betsner became a blacksmith's helper in the employ of the old Indian- apolis, Peru & Chicago Railroad. In the fall of 1869, however, soon after his marriage to Miss Hamer, and due to her infinence, as will be mentioned later, he embarked in the grocery business in Peru. With the, exception of the years from 1884 to 1888 he continued that line of trade throughout the remainder of his life. He was a Catholic and a Democrat, and having a genial temperament made friends easily and had a large circle throughout his career. He died July 16, 1900. Mr. Betsner was three times married. IIis first wife was Mary Ann Kompert, who bore him two children, namely : John A., now a grocer at Dayton, Ohio; and Elizabeth, wife of John Fitzgerald of Chicago. No children were born to his second marriage, the maiden name of that wife being Elizabeth Weinreder. To his marriage with Miss Hamer, four children have been born as follows: Mary B., now Sister Rose Cecile, who is in the Convent of the Sisters of Providence near Terre Haute; Barbara M .; Jacob J., and Joseph F. The family are all of the Catholic religion.
Mrs. Betsner, whose name forms the subject of this sketch, occupies a singular place in the commercial annals of Peru. Mr. Betsner at the time of her marriage to him, was sadly in debt. Mrs. Betsner could not rest under the odium of debt, and accordingly took in washing, did scrubbing and worked at any honest labor, no matter how menial to cancel this obligation. Eventually this was accomplished. It was her energetic mind that counseled Mr. Betsner to go into the grocery business and it was largely through her help and keen business instincts that made the humble beginning such a pronounced success. Through her management she had become one of the largest individual tax payers
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in Miami county. In the fall of 1869. Mrs. Betsner started in the gro- cery business in Peru. Indiana, at 115 South Broadway, and she lived then over the store. She purchased the store at what is now known as 12 South Broadway, on July 10, 1871, moving there in May, 1873, and she continued business there till 1884. In 1884 she retired from the grocery business, but on the 5th of May, 1888, opened the present store at 57 W. Main street, where she and her children are now located. The Main street property was purchased on November 3, 1876, and in 1884 they built the store adjoining. Mrs. Bestner and her children are recognized as one of the best and most substantial families of Peru.
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